Abstract

Atomic physics and the basic concepts of quantum theory have been probed in the last fifty years by using the techniques of optics and lasers in the visible range. The new powerful accelerators, storage rings, and various large scale devices, such as ion beams,
synchrotron radiation, plasma confinement machines, powerful lasers, etc. developed by the nuclear physicists and high technology engineers have allowed, in the past three decades, new, unexpected and more general insights of atomic structure and more accurate checks of quantum mechanics. It is now possible to prepare any kind of atom or ion, having any number of electrons in any quantum states (atomic manipulations), and to trap or set them in defined places on surfaces. The study of these atomic species having electrons in any deep, or highly excited levels requires the use of electromagnetic transitions in a much wider range of wavelengths than in optics, and, because most of the time they are in autoionizing states, of Auger spectrometry. It is the purpose of this talk to review some of the most salient discoveries in the field since this time, to present some of the most recent and exciting results obtained in the last decade, and future prospects.